Keep it simple, scalable and secure is the approach of small and medium businesses in adopting business clouds according to the Strategy Analytics Business Cloud Strategies (BCS) service report, “SMBs Run on Business Clouds According to 2012 Global Survey.” It describes the extent to which SMBs have embraced public clouds for applications more than any other cloud option.

Unlike larger organizations that have invested in both public and private clouds for applications and infrastructure, SMBs prefer public Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings that are easy to use, manage and integrate with other infrastructure and applications. Security remains a concern shared with larger firms.

“Many SMBs have moved nearly all of the applications that they can to public SaaS clouds,” commented Mark Levitt, Director of Business Cloud Strategies research at Strategy Analytics. “In the next 12-24 months, SMBs will explore how to move their remaining applications to run on public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds.”

“To compete with larger competitors, SMBs recognize that they must tap the vast resources available in business clouds to act nimbly and quickly in response to business and market needs,” said Andrew Brown, Director of Enterprise Research at Strategy Analytics.